Drive means for centrifugal separators



Oct. 1, 1940. B H,THURMAN 2,216,679

DRIVE MEANS FOR CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATORS Filed Nov. 22, 19s: 2 sheets-sheet 2 awuc wfo c Patented Oct. 1.1940 2,216,679

2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRIVE MEANS FOR CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATORS Benjamin H. Thurman, Bronxville, N. Y., assignor to Refining, Inc., Reno, Nev., a corporation of Nevada Application November 22, 1937, Serial No. 175,987 3 Claims. (01. 308-145) This invention relates to a drive means for a within the bearing structure III. The outer race centrifugal separator and more particularly to 25 of the lower bearing I8 is carried by an a bearing structure for rotatively supporting a annular member 26 supported on a plurality centrifugal bowl in a closed chamber into which of coil springs 21 engaging the bottom closure a heating medium is introduced such that the member 28 for the bearing supporting structure heating medium is prevented from entering said II], the lower closure member 28 being secured bearing structure. to the bearing supporting structure II) by means An object of the present invention is to provide of a plurality of bolts 29. The annular member a bearing structure for a centrifugal separator 26 is secured against rotation by a plurality of H) which is effective to prevent the heating medium pins 30 positioned in recesses in the bearing supemployed around the bowl of said separator from porting structure II] and engaging recesses in the entering the bearing structure. annular member 26. The springs 21 thus sup- Another object of the invention is to provide port the shaft I5 through the bearing I8 against a bearing structure including floating anti-fricdownward verticalmovement and the'bearing I1 tion bearings in which the bearing structure is limits this downward movement and prevents l5 exposed to a heating medium andis provided overstressing the springs 21. with structure for preventing the heating medi- The inner bearing race 2| of the lower bearing um from washing lubricant out of said bearings. I8 is clamped in position by an annular member A further object of the invention is to provide 3| surrounding the shaft I5 and clamped against :0 a bearing structure exposed to a heating medium the race 2I by the pulley I6 and nut 32 holding with means for sealing said bearing with oil durthe pulley !6 upon the shaft I5. The bottom ing idle periods and for throwing condensed closure member 28 for the bearing suppo t heating medium out of said bearing during opstructure II] has its inward portion 33 spaced eration thereof. from the annular member 26 and bearing I8 to Other advantages and objects of the invention provid a lu r ant am 3 a d u will appear in the following description of the more has its inner portion provided with an uppreferred embodiments of the invention shown Standing-an u flange 34 t0 pi' lubricant in the attached drawings, of which: from draining fromsaid bearing. The annular Figure 1 is a plan view of a bearing structure member 3| is provided With 9' downwardly :m in accordance with the present invention; tending flange 35 enveloplngthe fla 34 0f the Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on the line b t o su e member w c w w y 2-2 of Fig. 1; I extending flange terminates in a. radially extend- Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on the ing annular portion Positioned in the lubricant line 3 3 of Fig, 2; and chamber and provided with radial grooves 36' so as Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on the hat rotation of the shaft I5 and annular mem- 35 line 44 of Fig. 2. her 3I causes lubricantto be thrown outwardly Referring to the drawings, and more particua d upwa dly into the e 8- larly to Figure 2 thereof, I0 indicates abearing e Shaft i5 is Provided in its upper p n supporting structure secured to ledge II' of a, with a bore 31 to receive a member 3 Pinned frame II of a centrifugal separator by bolts I2; against rotation in said bore by-a pin'jl, The I3 indicates a shaft upon which a centrifugal member 38 is provided with a slot-lll to receive a, bowl I4 (the lower portion only of which is diametrically posi d key I carried by the shown) is supported and I5 indicates a driving lower end of the shaft I3 such that rotation of shaft keyed to the shaft I3 and provided it a I the shaft l5 causes rotation of the shaft l3. The 5 pulley I6 through which the shaft I5 is driven .shaft I3 has sufli'lcient play in the bore 31 of the from any suitable source of power. shaft I5 and the key 4| has, sumcient movement The shaft I5 is supported by an upper ball in the slot 40 to provide for limited movement of bearing [1 and a 1 r all bearing 3 h m in the shaft'l3 relative tothesna'ft 15 so that the the bearing supporting structure III as hereinshaft I3 and the centrifugal bowl I4 supported after described. The inner race I9 of the bearthereby may rotate about their center of gravity. 50

ing I'I engages a shoulder 20 on the shaft I5 and The shaft I3 is supported, by a ball bearing 42, the inner race 2I of the lower bearing I8 enthe inner race 43 of which engages a shoulder ll gages a shoulder 22 on the shaft I5. The outer on the shaft I3. The outer race 45 of this bearrace 23 of the upper bearing I1 is maintained ing is supported on an annular member 46 loosely in position by an annular member 24 positioned fitting the inner walls of the bearing supporting 55 structure I 0. The annular member 48 rests upon an annular member 41 supported by a plurality of springs 48, bearing upon an annular member 49 supported by the annular member 24. The springs 48 support the annular member 46 and bearing 42 and thus the shaft l3 for limited vertical or tipping movement. The annular member 46 supporting the bearing 42 is centered by a plurality of spring pressed plungers 50 positioned in bores 5| around the periphery of the upper portion of the bearing supporting structure l8. These plungers are pressed inwardly by springs 52 held in position by screw threaded members 53 threaded into the bores 4| through upwardly extending protuberances 5|. The shaft I3 is thus held in centered position by the springs 52 but is thereby enabled to rotate about the center of gravity of the shaft l3 and bowl H.

The upper end of the bearing supporting structure I is closed by a'cap member 54 secured to the bearing supporting structure ill by a plurality of bolts 55 shown in Fig. 1'. This cap member is provided with a conical upper surface 56 for draining condensed heating medium toward the periphery of the capand is further provided with an annular recess 51 in the upper portion thereof having an outwardly extending annular portion. The shaft I3 is provided with an annular umbrella member 58 extending outwardly over the recess 51 and is further provided with a depending annular flange 59 projecting downwardly into the recess 51, the flange 59 being provided with outwardly extending projections 60 to provide a fan or impeller action for throwing materials entering the recess 51 toward the outer portion thereof. A duct 6| is drilled through the cap 54 into the recess 51 and is connected with a pipe 62 leading outwardly through the frame H of the separator. The pipe 82 terminates in an oil cup 63 which may be positioned as shown in Fig. 2 to receive oil such that the recess 51 may be fllled with oil when the centrifugal separator is idle. During operation, the cap 63 is inverted to drain the oil from the recess 51 and also drain any ma-.

terials entering this recess during operation of the centrifuge. The umbrella member 58 is also provided with slots 64 on the under portion adjacent the' periphery thereof to provide a fan or impeller action for throwing materials -away from the space between the umbrella member 58 and the cap 54 to prevent as far as possible foreign materials entering the recess 51. The cap member 54 is also provided with a duct 65 for admitting lubricant to the bearings 42, I1 and I8 which duct may be connected with any conventional oil delivery system (not shown).

The bowl I 4 is provided with a downwardly extending portion 66 provided with a bore 61 fitting over the upper end 68 of the shaft l3, which upper end is provided with a plurality of projections 69 fitting into recesses 18 in the upper portion of the bore 61 of the bowl 4 so that the bowl is supported by the shaft l3 and keyed thereto for rotation.

As stated above, the frame II of the centrifuge extends upwardly and envelopes the bowl of the centrifuge machine to form a chamber into which a heating medium such as steam may be introduced to heat the bowl during rotation. An outlet 1| is provided adjacent the lower portion of the heating chamber so that heating medium may be circulated through the chamber and condensation removed if steam or other condensible heating medium is employed. This outlet is considerably below the top of the cap 54 for the bearing supporting structure such that condensed moisture is drained from the chamber without entering the bearing structure. However, steam condensing upon the bearing cap 54 forms moisture which would enter the bearing structure were it not for the umbrella member 58, impeller slots 64, annular recess 51 and depending flange 59 provided with the fan projection 60. The umbrella member 58 prevents condensed moisture running down the shaft I3 from entering the annular recess 51. Any steam entering this recess and condensed therein is thrown outwardly by the fan projection 60 and drained from the recess 51 through the duct 6| and pipe 62. Also, the grooves 64 on the umbrella member 58 act as fans to retard the entrance of steam into the annular recess 51. The projections 60 upon the depending flange 58 have been found to effectively prevent any steam which enters the annular recess 51 from passing upwardly over the inner portion of the cap 54 and then downwardly into the bearing 42. Thus any condensed moisture is prevented from reaching the bearings 42 and also any steam which would tend to wash lubricant from the bearings is prevented from reaching the same.

Since shaft I3 is mounted for limited movement both in a vertical direction and in a radial direction by reason of the springs 48 and 52 respectively and also because of the high rate of rotation (several thousand R. P. M.), ordinary packing structures have been found impractical to prevent steam or other heating medium from entering the bearing structure. It will be noted that all portions of the shaft 3 and umbrella member 58, including the depending flange 58,-are spaced from adjacent portions of the upper bearing cap 54' a suflicient distance to provide for the above described movement of shaft l3 relative to the cap 54, without bringing adjacent stationary and rotating portions of the bearing sealing means into contact. Even though such adjacent portions are spaced from each other the bearing sealing structure described has been found to be an effective means for preventing the entrance of foreign material into the bearings.

While I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that I am not to be limited to the details thereof but the invention may be varied within the scope of the following claims:

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a centrifugal separator provided with a rotating bowl and a chamber substantially completely surrounding said bowl to receive a heat- .ing medium, a bearing for said bowl, a bearing supportingstructure closing the lower portion of said chamber, means for preventing entrance of said heating medium into said bearing comprising a closure member for said bearing supporting structure, said closure member having an annular groove therein, a member carried by said rotating bowl and having a peripheral portion extending outwardly over said annular groove and an annular flange extending into said annular groove, and means providing for filling said annular groove with oil when said centrifugal is idle and for draining said groove when said centrifugal bowl is rotated.

2. In a centrifugal separator provided with a rotating bowl and a chamber substantially completely surrounding said bowl to receive a heating medium, a bearing for said bowl, a bearing supporting structure for said bearing closing the lower portion of said chamber, means for preventing entrance of said heating medium into said bearing comprising a closure. member for said bearing supporting structure, said closure member having an annular groove therein, a member carried by said rotating bowl and having a peripheral portion extending outwardly over said annular groove and an annular flange extending into said annular groove, means providing for filling said annular groove with oil when said centrifugal is idle and for draining said groove when said centrifugal bowl is rotated, said annular groove having a radially extending annular portion, and impeller means carried by said annular flange for throwing foreign material entering said groove into said annular portion of said groove.

3. In a centrifugal separator having a rotating bowl and a structure enclosing said bowl to receive a heating medium, a bearing for said bowl having a bearing supporting structure closing the lower portion of said chamber, said bearing supporting structure extending upwardly into said chamber to prevent condensed heating medium from entering said bearing, and means for preventing uncondensed heating medium from entering said bearing, said means comprising a member carried by said bowl and extending outwardly over said bearing and provided with impeller portions for directing heating medium away from said bearing, said bearing supporting structure having an annular groove in the upper surface thereof and said annular member having a depending flange extending into said annular groove and provided with impeller portions for directing heating medium out of said annular groove. I

BENJAMIN H. THURMAN. 

